Okay guys - this will be my last proper post for a few weeks as I'm going on holiday! It is the playlist I listen to whilst writing my latest feature, Swear Forever, a haunting, psychological horror about...
"Love that refuses to die, like a dream that long since became a nightmare."
Will You Love Me Tomorrow? - The Shirelles
Without You - Lana Del Rey
Magic Summertime - Eleni Mandell
With or Without You - Keane
If You Want Love - K.S. Rhoads
My Love Won't Wait - Two Gallants
Woke Up Dead - Kyla La Grange
Tokyo Transfigured (from X The Movie)
Run Boy Run - Woodkid
Coming Undone - Korn
Sea to Sky - Dream Boat
Cradel (Cradle) of Forest - Akira Yamaoka featuring Joe Romersa
Catalyst - Kyla La Grange
No Rest - Dry the River
Run - Blonds
Snake Eyes - The Milk Carton Kids
Here Be Monsters - Ed Harcourt
Mein Herz Brennt (Piano Version) - Rammstein
Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? - Paloma Faith
Unfortunately I couldn't include every artist / band who has appeared as a Friday Feature this year as 8tracks doesn't support .wav or .m4a files (boo to them). Please enjoy anyway, check out all the other Friday Features and support these guys! If you don't buy their music they can't make it and I can't feature it for you.
For this week's Friday Feature we're celebrating Mazzy Star, an alternative dream rock band from Santa Monica, USA who have been creating bewitching music for nearly three decades. Their music is iconic for two reasons a) Hope Sandoval's dreamy, lilting, crooning, melancholic, comforting vocals and b) their use of almost completely acoustic instrumentals (with the odd electric guitar). David Roback writes nearly all of Mazzy Star's songs and it is due to this and his decision to steer away from hopping on musical trend band waggons that their music is as enjoyable and timeless today as it was twenty years ago. If I was to be flippant I'd say it is music to get high to (in particular their first 1990 album She Hangs Brightly) however it is also music to dream to, music to drink cocoa whilst watching rain run down the window to, music to comfort a friend to and music to enjoy insomnia to.
Where will I have heard them before?
If you're American you're probably most familiar with their single 'Fade Into You' (from 1993 album So Tonight That I Might See) which has been in a billion films and TV shows from Batman Forever to End of Watch. UK visitors are more likely to recognise 'Into Dust' (also from So Tonight That I Might See) an album song which made it into the UK singles charts twice! First in 2009 for a Virgin Media advert and then again in 2011 after featuring in this Gears of War 3 advert.
During Mazzy Star's 1997-2009 hiatus both Hope and David explored solo careers. Along with her own music Hope performed on tracks for The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Chemical Brothers, Air, Death in Vegas and Massive Attack. Meanwhile David performed in and wrote three songs for 2004 film Clean.
Featured Song: Flowers in December
Where can I hear more?
Mazzy Star has released three albums to date (a new one coming soon apparently) and two special singles 'Common Burn' and 'Lay Myself Down' (2011) all of which are easily available to download - the cheapest place being Amazon where She Hangs Brightly (1990) and So Tonight That I Might See (1993) are only £2.49 each! DEAL! Among My Swan (1996) is a little more expensive but is actually my favourite and in my opinion the most accessible (with She Hangs Brightly being the least) however when the other two are so cheap and with So Tonight That I Might See containing their most famous songs why not get all three in one go? You'd be mad not to.
